GETAWAY CAR

43. Boys and Boys and Girls and Girls

September 22nd 2017

Taylor's POV

"Are you sure you'll be okay? I shouldn't be too long?" Karlie gives me a worried look before looking down at the twins who are asleep in front of me. "I'll be fine, don't worry. I'll see you when you get back from the airport." I smile as I kiss her cheek, balancing Maisie on my hip as I stand in front of her. "Okay, just call me if you need anything." Her eyes are serious and she's clearly worried to leave me alone with all three kids for the first time. "Go, before you leave them waiting too long." I laugh and she sighs as she nods. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

I shake my head as she leaves the playroom where I'm currently stationed with the sleeping twins and Maisie. "I love you." She calls back as she opens the door and I laugh as I reply with the same thing. The door closes gently behind her and I smile as I look at Maisie, "can mommy trust you not to wake your brother and sister if she puts you down, hmm?" I fix the baby's shirt as I bounce her and she babbles up at me, "lets put you in the playpen, it's better safe than sorry." I laugh to myself as I walk back out of the room, leaving the door open but pulling the baby gate over.

I take Maisie to the living-room and turn the TV on to keep her distracted as I sit her in the middle of her playpen. It's only in here to stop her getting into anything whilst I can't see her. She has plenty of toys and she loves mickey mouse, so I leave her contently in here whilst I go to the kitchen to try and clear up a little before Karlie gets back with her parents and sister. I have the baby monitor clipped to the pocket of my sweat pants, I'm still in a lot of pain and my whole body aches so if something is loose fitting then I'm going to live in it, so for the past couple of days I've been alternating sweat pants and loose shirts with leggings and loose shirts. I know I must look a mess because I'm totally exhausted and it's been about two days since I've been able to find time to shower.

I forgot how needy newborn babies are, and now it's doubled so we're run off our feet and totally exhausted since it seems like nobody in our house wants to sleep. Maisie is just as bad as the twins, constantly waking up when she hears them cry, and I think Kimby finally realised what she was getting herself into and she's no longer looking at the 2am screaming fits through rose coloured glasses.

I fill the dishwasher and clear the island of all the clutter, I've already done the same in the living room and it doesn't really matter what I do to the playroom because with three kids it doesn't stay clean very long. I hear crying through the baby monitor and sigh as I walk back through to the playroom where the twins were sleeping. Theo's crying in the pack 'n play as Tilly starts to stir beside him and I quickly scoop them both up. I take them with me as I go back to the living-room, lying Tilly in her bouncer since she was slightly more content than her brother and she might go back to sleep if I bounce her. "Mama." Maisie babbles at me, starting to get frantic as she realises her brother and sister are getting attention and she's not.

I lie Theo down in the boppy so that I can grab Maisie from the playpen, sighing as I run my hand over the soft curls on her head and I sit her down beside me as I sit down to feed Theo. I lie him down on the nursing pillow and lift my shirt, and he latches on almost immediately as I cuddle Maisie into my side. I do try and give Maisie as much attention as the twins but they're so tiny and there's two of them so they do require a lot more attention. As Theo eats, I bounce Tilly's bouncer with my foot and cuddle Maisie as she sucks on her pacifier and watches the episode of Mickey Mouse that's playing on the TV. I can't remember the last time I watched adult television to be honest, we're always too exhausted at night and when we're down here Maisie rules everything. I didn't honestly think having a baby would take over my life so much, but here we are and she's nearly one and she has Karlie and I wrapped around her little finger.